Everything about Margaret Atwood totally explained
Margaret Eleanor Atwood,
CC (born
November 18,
1939) is a Canadian
writer. A prolific
poet,
novelist,
literary critic,
feminist and
activist, she's a winner of the
Booker Prize and
Arthur C. Clarke Award, and has been a finalist for the
Governor General's Award seven times, winning twice. Atwood is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history. While she's best known for her work as a novelist, her
poetry is noteworthy. Many of her poems have been inspired by
myths, and
fairy tales, which were an interest of hers from an early age. Atwood also published short stories in
Playboy magazine.
Life
Born in
Ottawa,
Ontario, Atwood is the second of three children of Carl Edmund Atwood, an
entomologist, and Margaret Dorothy Killiam, a former dietitian and nutritionist. Due to her father’s ongoing research in forest
entomology, Atwood spent much of her childhood in the backwoods of Northern
Quebec and back and forth between Ottawa,
Sault Ste. Marie and
Toronto. She didn't attend school full-time until she was 11 years old. She became a voracious reader of refined literature,
Dell pocketbook mysteries,
Grimm's Fairy Tales, Canadian animal stories, and
comic books. She attended Leaside High School in
Leaside, Toronto and graduated in 1957.
Atwood began writing at age six and realised she wanted to write when she was 16. In 1957, she began studying at
Victoria University in the University of Toronto. Her professors included
Jay Macpherson and
Northrop Frye. She graduated in 1961 with a
Bachelor of Arts in English (honours) and minors in
philosophy and
French.
In the fall of 1961, after winning the
E.J. Pratt Medal for her privately-printed book of poems,
Double Persephone, she began graduate studies at Harvard's
Radcliffe College with a
Woodrow Wilson fellowship. She obtained a master's degree (MA) from Radcliffe in 1962 and pursued further graduate studies at
Harvard University for 2 years, but never finished because she never completed a dissertation on “The English Metaphysical Romance” in 1967. She has taught at the
University of British Columbia (1965),
Sir George Williams University in
Montreal (1967-68), the
University of Alberta (1969-79),
York University in Toronto (1971-72), and
New York University, where she was Berg Professor of English.
In 1968, Atwood married Jim Polk, whom she divorced in 1973. She got together with fellow novelist
Graeme Gibson soon after and moved to
Alliston, Ontario, north of Toronto. In 1976 their daughter, Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson, was born. (Graeme Gibson had two sons, Matt and Grae, from a previous marriage.) Atwood returned to Toronto in 1980. She divides her time between Toronto and
Pelee Island, Ontario.
Atwood and her partner
Graeme Gibson are members of the
Green Party of Canada and strong supporters of GPC leader
Elizabeth May, whom Atwood has referred to as fearless, honest, reliable and knowledgeable. Atwood has strong views on environmental issues,, such as suggesting that petrol-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers be banned, and has made her own home more energy efficient – including not having
air-conditioning - by installing
awnings and skylights that open. She and her husband also use a
hybrid car when they're in the city. Margaret is also a very active feminist.
Works
Further Information
Get more info on 'Margaret Atwood'.
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